Social Psychology 2 (Test4)

Social Influence

Social psychology's great lesson is the enormous power of social influence. This influence can be seen in our conformity, our obedience to authority, and our group behavior.

Culture

The enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next.

Cultural lens

You will see things different than others and one of the reasons may be cultural.

stereotype

a generalized (sometimes accurate but often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people.

prejudice

an unjustifiable (and usually negative) attitude toward a group and its members. Prejudice generally involves stereotyped beliefs, negative feelings, and a predisposition to discriminatory action.

ingroup

bias the tendency to favor our own group.

social facilitation

improved perfor- mance on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others.

Normative Conformity

sometimes we conform because we are apprehensive that the group will disapprove if we are deviant.

group polarization

the enhance- ment of a group's prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group.

deindividuation

the loss of self- awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity.

groupthink

the mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realis- tic appraisal of alternatives.

social loafing

the tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable.

just-world phenomenon

the tendency for people to believe the world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get.

discrimination

unjustifiable nega- tive behavior toward a group and its members.

Norm

An understood rule for accepted and expected behavior. Norms prescribe "proper" behavior.

How does culture affect our behavior

Culture is the behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next

What is culture, and how does its transmission distinguish us from other social animals?

Culture represents our shared behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions, which we transmit across generations by way of our language ability. Culture, with its language and efficient division of labor, allows us to preserve innovation.

outgroup

"them"—those perceived as different or apart from our ingroup.

ingroup

"us"—people with whom we share a common identity.

Which of the following strengthens conformity to a group?

A. FINDING THE GROUP ATTRACTIVE b. Feeling secure c. Coming from an individualist culture d. Having made a prior commitment

Conformity Adjusting your thinking or your behavior to coincide with other peoples.

Adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard

Across cultures, we differ in our language, our monetary systems, our sports, even which side of the road we drive on. But beneath these differences is our great similarity—our capacity for culture.

Culture works. It transmits the customs and beliefs that enable us to communicate, to exchange money for things, to play, to eat, and to drive with agreed-upon rules and without crashing into one another.

Collectivistic cultures

Cultures that are about group identity, group harmony, about being interdependent with other people. They are connected to other people and its about group needs and desires.

Individualistic cultures

Cultures that see themselves as very independent and separate from each other. They focus on their own identity their personal goals, needs, and their own achievements.

What is Deindividuation

During England's 2011 riots and looting, rioters were disinhibited by social arousal and by the anonymity provided by darkness and their hoods and masks. Later, some of those arrested expressed bewilderment over their own behavior.

Informational Conformity

Go along with the group because what they say convinces us that they are right and we are wrong.

Normative social influence - Desires approval

Influence resulting from a person's desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval.

Informational social influence - accepts others opinions

Influence resulting from one's willingness to accept others' opinions about reality.

Soloman Ash's experiments of conformity

Its a classic, it reveals that people will deny what they see and submit to group pressure. His study allows us not only to observe conformity but to study the conditions that increase or reduce its occurrence.

2 general types of conformity or influence

Normative or Informational conformity or social influence on people.